Play The Conditions

An often under appreciated factor in tennis matches is playing the conditions. Now, some of you have figured out that playing in the wind is somehow different than playing when it's still. On a windy day, the ball moves unexpectedly forcing you to have better footwork then on normal days. In addition, some of you have figured out that on windier days it's more difficult to pass and therefore are using such conditions in order to play a more aggressive game on that particular day. 

However, there are other conditions that you should be aware of. For example, how many of you have identified the "tilt" of the court? Each court is designed differently in order to allow for drainage. Some tilt North-to-South (i.e. end to end) - making it easier to hit serves into one side of the court while the ball might sail just long over the side - or East-to-West (i.e. side to side) - making it easier to hit slices, kick serves or heavy top-spins on one side of the other. It is important to identify the tilt of the court in order to determine how to use it to your advantage against your opponent's weakness. For example, if the court angles downhill towards the Ad-side of the court, it may be useful to throw in more kick-serves on that side in order to force the opponent to return high balls from "downhill". Switch sides, and the same tilt is now on the Deuce side of the court where you could use it to hit some nasty slice serves. Similarly, when the courts tittle N-to-S, the downhill slope may push some players to, inadvertently, play further back than normal. Use that factor to your advantage by pushing your opponent deep and the swinging them side to side (or making them run in with drop-shots). 

Other conditions to be aware of are: 1) distractions - is one side of the court closer to the tournament desk, road, etc? If so, maybe you can elect to serve, receive, side in such a manner that the opponent will have to serve from that side at the critical 3-3 game. 2) Does one side have better windscreens than another one making it easier to "pick up" the ball? Not every court is center court at Wimbledon. Some sides of the court don't have windscreens at all making it hard to see the ball. Public parks are often notorious for having poor windscreens. If you're the returner, you want to be in the best position to see the ball every time. Even though this is not possible on every game, maybe you should arrange your coin-toss selection in such a way that you're serving at 3-3 with no windscreen behind you (and the opponent is serving from where you can see the ball). 3) Are there cracks or dead spots in the court? Figure out where they are and aim for them. You never know when you get a lucky bounce in your favor? 4) Is it hot, humid, did the opponent have a long match prior to yours? Make a conscious effort to keep your opponent working hard for the first 3-4 games. Send a message that you're willing to stay out there as long as it takes. 5) Is it sunny, shady, slippery, altitude, uneven, etc? Is the net tight, loose, high or low? Are the fences closer to the court than normal? 

You must survey the court like a general surveys a battlefield before war. You do not want to have any surprises when you walk on the court. Make a conscious effort to understand the terrain and set some objectives for using it to your advantage. Remember that a BAD strategy is better than NO strategy at all. You can always change the BAD strategy but it's much harder to come up with one "on the fly".

A-B-C Strategy

When playing a match, it is important to understand that things will not always go your way. As a matter of fact, it is your opponent's primary goal to try to throw you off your game. Therefore, prepare for the unexpected. The best players have figured out that a match is not a constant marathon. It contains peaks and valleys and it's important for the player to identify the particular situation at any given point in order to shift tactics accordingly. 

I refer to this concept as the A-B-C strategy. When things go your way - you're feeling well, seeing the ball well, moving well, hitting crisp shots, etc. - that's when you should press. This is your "A" game. When things are just slightly off - you're not playing poorly but maybe the first serve percentage isn't high enough, there could be a minor/temporary hitch in your stroke that you can't figure out, maybe you're not reacting to your opponent's spins and power all that well - you ratchet back your game a little bit. This is your "B" game. On the other hand, when things are simply not going your way at all - it seems like you're missing everything, you don't feel like you have a good feel for the shots, etc. - you fall back and try to find some consistency. This is where you try not to miss and, in turn, try not to beat yourself. I call this the "C" strategy.

Too often, juniors tend to step on the court and expect everything to GO THEIR WAY RIGHT AWAY. Then, when it doesn't work out, they throw their hands (sometimes literally, other times figuratively) up in the air because they have no fall-back position. Tennis is a fluid game and, as a player, I'm going to do everything possible to make sure that you get as few chances to unload on your weapons as possible and that you are going to hit shots from uncomfortable positions. I'm going to try to make it a very long day at the office. Don't give up! You must learn how to shift between points when things are going your way and the ones where they are not. Like a race car driver never starts his vehicle in 6th gear (or doesn't race in 1st gear), you too must learn to cycle among your gears. When you feel good; you press. When you don't feel like you're making the shots, you hold back a little bit, find some rhythm and then start pressing again. 

As you can better and better you will develop a better feel for when things are going your way and when things are not. Sometimes, you'll be able to shift between A-B-C DURING the point itself. That's when you know that you're getting close to mastering the game. 

Be Unpredictably in Control

Next time you roll up to a standard private lesson and your coach feeds the obligatory 20 balls side to side, try a different approach to your warmup.  Try to be as random as you can be, as creative as you can be.  Vary the heights, spins, and depths.  Hit a gentle forehand dropshot DTL, soft rolling backhand looper DTL, CC forehand drive, slice backhand CC, slice forehand crosscourt, inside-out forehand angle, curving away from middle slice DTL...the possibilities are endless when you start to consider pace, height, and depth.  

The tennis computer in your brain will find this warmup very refreshing and fun.  Tennis should be fun!  Try to challenge yourself and see how many different shots you can add to your arsenal of weapons.  The more weapons you have, albeit they are not big bazookas and AK-47s, but more sly like a Gilette Razor or a wooden toothpick- the more options you will have to dissect your opponent.  The ability to think on the fly and create some fun opportunities for yourself takes diligent practice.  I promise you, some of the best tennis memories you will ever have will be specific points where you dropshot-lob someone and they are running 15 mph straight into the fence!  I promise you will find immense joy in their suffering and it will take everything you have to resist rolling on the floor, laughing hysterically.   

Another way to work on shifting gears from shot to shot is to compete against weaker players.  Usually weaker players will be honored to hit with you and will always put forth their best effort.  See how many times you can purposely bring them with a short slice and then pass them softly with a lob.  See how many drop volleys you can hit from awkward spots around the net.  See how wide you can hit a slice serve to set up your open court volley (give them enough time to run it down so you can maybe lob volley them on the next ball).  Get familiar with awkward areas of the court and experiment.  While they are sweating and running for all your shots, you can comfortably work on your variety and creative decisions.  

The better you can manipulate your racquet in different ways, the better off you will be.  I can equate a player with a multitude of skills to someone like a Fat Tony in the Italian section of town.  Fat Tony owns a bunch of small business in NYC, doesn't drive a flashy car, has almost a million in cash in his account, never went to college, everyone laughs at his jokes, and he carries 50 extra pounds of weight.  Across the net from Fat Tony is someone who went UCLA, earned a Graduate Degree in Accounting, worked for one of the top accounting firms, dresses perfectly, nobody laughs at his jokes, drives a BMW, owns a house on the hills, no cash in his account, does Yoga every Tuesday, and shops at Whole Foods.  I will take Fat Tony everyday, he is practical, he is logical, he plays to win the game.  He will make you suffer, he will make you run, he will make Mr. Perfect sweat- all while he is only taking a few steps here and there to execute his shots.  Mr. Perfect will be cr
ashing into the net chasing down his dropshots, crisscrossing his feet while Fat Tony shifts gears from a junk ball to a drive, and Mr. Perfect will be wondering why his perfect country club strokes are of no use.  People gathering in the clubhouse will be cheering Fat Tony on, ready to buy him a beer when he gets off the court.  Even the ladies will love him.  Fat Tony will be using 3 different racquets with 3 different tensions, but he adjusts.  He is playing to win.  Mr. Perfect is befuddled about his aesthetically pleasing strokes, not that they aren't any good, but he never had a chance to set up to use them consistently.  So who would you rather be?  Fat Tony or Mr. Perfect

Take Away Half of the Court

One of the most frustrating things I see weak-minded players do is give up on a play. I understand not everyone is wired like Rafael Nadal with a relentless attitude to chase down balls from seemingly impossible situations. However, here is a good trick that makes logical sense and something you can implement into your game right away.

Lets say you are in a tussle and slowly your opponent pushes you deep into the corner. Without meaning to, you cough up a short ball so short, you quickly calculate the odds of winning the point to be less than 10 percent. One option is to give in and just turn around. Another option is to run to the center of the court and see what happens. The BEST option is to guestimate the one place the winner will go and run to that spot. This means taking half the court away and take away the easiest shot for them to hit.

Standing in the middle of the court opens up the edges. However, most people who play great defense have a knack for guessing right. What these players are really doing is reading the ball, the opponents body language, and checking where the most probably place the next ball could potentially go and taking that option away. Make them hit the most difficult shot and maybe if you are strongly covering one-half of the court, good things could happen- like the ball coming onto a crash collision with you.

Like chess, you always want to apply pressure and think a couple steps ahead. Now if you continue to chase these balls down (Lendl said: "I run after everything, even if I think that I can't get there"), however dire the situation may be, and continue to take away half of the court- they will start to feel the pressure deep into the set or match. Easy shots suddenly aren't so easy, muscles start to tighten, and shots that were once manageable without blinking start to feel like catching a mosquito with chopsticks (well maybe not that hard, but anything is possible when you get underneath someone's skin). Good things can happen and these types of points can switch the momentum and cause rookie players to crack mentally.

Passing the Eyeball Test

In a perfect world, everyone would like to hit with players at an equal or greater level than them themsleves.  It makes perfect sense, the ball always comes within the vicinity of one or two steps with solid power and consistency.  On the flipside, ill-informed players rather not hit with so called "scrubs".  I am calling them ill-informed for the simple fact that hitting with so called "scrubs" can be really beneficial to your game. 

Think about it from a different point of view.  

a)  The ball never comes to you.  That is great!  One of the best ways to determine who passes the eyeball test for being a good player if you are watching from the sidelines is if a player can track down any kind of shot and place it perfect to their hitting partner.  Now think about that.  How often does a "scrub" make you perform below par?  I already know the answer, most of the time.  For obvious reasons, the ball never comes within a 5 feet radius of you, the randomness of pace, heights, depths completely tinker with your timing, and mentally it wears on you.  Guess what?  Sounds like a real tennis match.  

b)  With all this variability being thrown in your direction, you can really develop a wide array of skills.  Your goal is to lay the ball right onto their racquet without having for them to move.  Can you put it there in such a way that doesn't require them to move wide, deep, or short and doesn't require them to deal with too much or too little pace and doesn't require them to raise or lower their racquet at contact?  Yes that's pretty tough, but that's what good players can do.  

c)  Improving your skills.  Sometimes the ball lands short and might bounce 5 times before it reaches the baseline.  Trust me, not an ideal shot for you to be scooping off the ground and having to generate enough pace to get it over the net.  A common problem rookies have is to overplay the shot.  Meaning if you have a semi-western forehand and the ball has no pace and is 3 inches off the ground- Why are you hitting a topspin forehand?  The experienced and mature player would saavily turn the grip towards a continental eastern grip and gently slice the ball in a way that the "scrub" can hit it back again.  These little skills can add up and help you win important matches against the equal to better players.  These are the types of shots average players miss and good to great players rarely miss.